Archives for June 2009

It’s so hard to be a cheerleader for a team that doesn’t even want to win any more.

In the football team that has become daytime television, the quarterback is spitting on the legacy of the greatest love stories ever told, the wide receiver has been recast with a Melrose Place actress and suddenly turned into a lawyer out of nowhere and the offensive guard and offensive tackle have quietly been written into the background.

And yet the owners and managers of these teams still expect fans to show up and sit on the cold bleachers. Heck, they don’t even care if they’re grumbling anymore, so long as rumps are in the seats.

I say, no more. I say, we’ve settled long enough. I say, it doesn’t take that much effort to come up with a soap opera concept fresh and inviting — a fact I shall now demonstrate by presenting to you, the disgruntled viewer, five wholly original concepts I think, given enough time to nurture and grow, could wind up representing the future of the daytime industry … and take this team [Read more…]

Thinking Fans defend Dorian, too: Rebecca demands, “Dorian has always been a great soap villainess. I have a big problem thinking that she actually was in her cups at the party she hosted for Markko — as we all know, soap villains do not lose control. I want the indomitable, formidable woman that Dorian is back on screen, giving no quarter to her enemies and taking no prisoners!” … Marilyn Henry adds, “I have long thought Robin Strasser one of the finest talents in soaps, maybe in all TV” … while Jennifer rages, “I am outraged by the callous and heartless writing, not just for Ms. Strasser, but for this iconic character” … and more. See Comments below.

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By Marlena De Lacroix

I have been a Robin Strasser fan since 1969 when she, George Reinholt and Jacquie Courtney drew me into the soap world with the pathos of the Rachel, Steve and Alice’s storyline on Another World. The passion, the tears! It was the best love triangle ever! Rachel was the neurotic spoiler, the villainess, and Robin made her grasping inner pain so harrowing (Rachel was deserted by her father as a child), I can still feel the hurt decades later. And after 40 years (through Another World, All My Children and One Life To Live) Robin is still here, as OLTL‘s Dorian. And so am I, having followed her through all of her long and distinguished soap career.

In all those years, Robin has never given a bad performance, never failed to be anything less than riveting, or at the very least extremely interesting in any soap scene. We love her! She is daytime soap opera! And on a personal note, is there any other soap actress who has aged so well — naturally? She doesn’t mind that we know she’s 64 (born on V.E. Day 1945, her middle name is literally ‘Victory in Europe.’) She still looks youthful and beautiful.

It’s way too easy for soap writers to fall into cliché. Robin is, after all, an older woman. In our soap world of 20-year-old uneducated, unsophisticated heroines, it’s only too tempting to write an older woman who can be easily marginalized — and laughed at. It’s an ugly stereotype.

And in public appearances she’s always dressed with stunning perfection. Like Dorian, Robin loves all things French. She is the rare [Read more…]

Bonjour, everyone! I’m sorry I haven’t posted in many weeks. As you know, my mother passed away. It happened amid the frenzy of the end of spring semester, at the end of a long academic year. I need the summer to recharge, so I’m going on relaxed summer mode until the Daytime Emmys at the end of August.

However, there will be new material here. I will post as often as I can, and there will be posts by other contributors. I am thrilled to introduce a new regular, Matthew Weaver, who will debut soon. Matthew does something rarely done well: soap satire. His work is very sophisticated and entirely original, and it always makes me LOL. You may have read his wonderful creative faux press releases and casting notices on Soap Zone, where [Read more…]